The Sutta Piṭaka (also referred to as Sūtra Piṭaka or Suttanta Piṭaka; English: Basket of Discourse) is the second of the three division of the Pali Tripitaka, the definitive canonical collection of scripture of TheravadaBuddhism. The other two parts of the Tripiṭaka are the Vinaya Piṭaka (Basket of Discipline) and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka (Basket of Higher Doctrine). The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.[1]
Origins
What was later to become the written scripture of the Sutta Pitaka was first orally rehearsed by Buddha’s cousin Ānanda at the First Buddhist Council that was held shortly after the Buddha's death. The first council also defined the set of rules (Vinaya) that governed the life of monks and nuns within the monastic community. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of skepticism. Richard Gombrich thinks most of the first four nikayas (see below) go back to the Buddha, in content but not in form.[2] The late Professor Hirakawa Akira says that the First Council collected only short prose passages or verses expressing important doctrines, and that these were expanded into full length suttas over the next century.[3]
These teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the commentary's reckoning, 9,565 short suttas grouped by number from ones to elevens. According to Keown, "there is considerable disparity between the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a fairly late date."[4]
This is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between editions. The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition 1-17 and the Burmese edition 1-18.
The first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated by the Pali Text Society[1].
The first four have also been translated in the Teachings of the Buddha series by Wisdom Publications.
The first four nikayas, as well as six books from the Khuddaka Nikāya, have been translated from the Pali by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu and released under a Creative Commons license, and are available at dhammatalks.org
Selections (including material from at least two nikayas):
Buddhist Suttas, ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East, volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (& ?Dover, New York)
The Word of the Buddha, ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935
Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of the paritta
In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
Early Buddhist Discourses, ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006
Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 2008
Basic Teachings of the Buddha, ed & tr Glenn Wallis, New York: Random House, 2007
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